Use of web-based applications has become prevalent as use of the World Wide Web has evolved. In fact, for some classes of applications, use of web-based applications instead of desktop applications has become very common for many users. For example, many users have switched from desktop electronic mail (e-mail) applications and desktop calendar applications to web-based e-mail applications and web-based calendar applications.
However, even these different web-based applications have remained mostly independent from, and unintegrated with, each other. Thus, users are required to manually toggle from one application to another application when needing information from different applications. For example, while working within an e-mail application window, a user has to move to another application window to work with a calendar application, e.g., in order to access calendar information. Similarly, the user has to then move back to the e-mail window to continue working with the e-mail application. For some users, changing back and forth among application windows may be required many times during a given user session, which can be a cumbersome and certainly interruptive process.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for more and better integration among different software applications so that users can create, view, edit and generally manage information associated with one application while working within another different application.
Any approaches that may be described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.